City of Ruins
by Lillie Clair
Summary: Things get hectic when the last person Magnus expects to see shows up and seems to know more about Alec than he does. There's something rotten in Brooklyn and our favourite Shadowhunters have a big problem to solve.
1. Preface

A cold dread crept up his spine as Alec made his way farther down the deserted hallway. The longer he stayed in the dimly lit space, the more firmly the sense of wrongness about the place settled over him. He glanced over at Isabelle and saw a look on her face somewhere between anxiety and excitement. She could always sense a fight before it was on them. Jace's eyes were alight with anticipation of whatever lay in wait for them. Alec had been trying to ignore this gnawing paranoia in the pit of his stomach since they had left the Institute. Something was wrong tonight. He could feel it. A rustling somewhere behind them caused Alec to give a start.

"Alright there, Sparky?" Jace asked. "What's got you so jumpy on this one?"

"Am I making you nervous?" Clary asked, the nerves in her own voice ringing out like a bell. Demons, she could handle, but her fear of failing on their first hunting expedition was almost more than she could deal with.

"Of course it's not you, Clary." Alec assured her. "I have complete confidence in you. I've just got a bad feeling about tonight, this place. It just puts me on edge."

"Would everyone just mellow out already? Everybody's lack of confidence is bleeding into my belief that we can handle this situation." Isabelle interjected.

"We are so sorry for upsetting your self-confidence, Izzy. Next time one of us is having issues, we'll do what other families do and bury them deep down to flare up, ruining special occasions for years to come." Jace remarked.

"Hardee har har" Isabelle responded, rolling her eyes.

Jace smirked before tensing as an overwhelming smell of garbage inundated the room. He took a moment and glanced at Clary.

"You alright?" He asked.

Clary bit her lip but gave a tentative little smile. "I think so." She said, a little more confidence in her voice than had been there before.

Jace pulled out his seraph blade and Isabelle unwound the whip from around her wrist. Pounding footfalls approached from around the corner before a Ravener burst out from around the corner. Isabelle struck the venom sac and watched the Ravener collapse and perished. Raum and Spider demons followed and Clary and Jace set on them as an Oni demon followed and Isabella attacked it in that swift manner she had. That left Alec with a Kuri and a Scorprios demon. The Kuri wasn't much of a challenge but the Scorprios was putting up a bit more of a fight. He had just managed to gain the upper hand when something unlike anything Alec had seen before entered the room. Losing focus for just a moment, the Scorprios managed to scrape him on the shoulder. The poison would need to be attended to quickly, but they still had time to finish with the demon in the room.

The only problem was he couldn't take his eyes off of the new demon in the room. He knew full well she was a demon but he couldn't manage to think of anything but how she seemed to emit a sort of music in her very presence. It called to him like a siren song; a siren song; a Siren. That was it. She was a Siren. Even armed with this information, Alec could not raise his hand against her, could not move at all as the facts would have it.

Distantly he could hear Isabelle and Jace shouting at him; could hear Clary asking what was going on. She was approaching him now and he knew she wasn't beautiful; quite the opposite actually. She was really quite hideous with her protruding fangs, talon fingers, greenish skin with every vein visible, and bright red eyes. She should terrify and disgust him but he was frozen, gazing into her horrible eyes. He knew somewhere in his mind that Isabelle was trying to get to him past the injured Scorprios demon and that he should use his seraph blade to attack the Siren and somehow none of it mattered. Jace was running at him full force but the Siren dematerialized and reappeared just behind him.

At first it felt as though she were simply reaching up to caress his face but the Shadowhunter knew better than that, even as she kept him immobile and unable to fight against her will. This was the moment he had always feared. He had failed. He was weak and disappointing. Alec had only one way to retaliate now. Two words managed to escape his lips. "I'm sorry." The Siren's talon ran across his throat and blinding pain tore through him, followed by terror and then a deep tired weakening of his body, his limbs turning to lead and pulling him to the floor. Why was it so cold? But of course he knew the answer to that. Then he felt two warm hands on either side of his face and he looked up to gaze into the familiar cat eyes. There was so much he wanted to say to that person with eyes the eyes that had always managed to see him even when he was invisible to the rest of the world but only a gurgling noise came from his throat with another surge of searing pain.

"Shhh." The voice he knew so well was quiet and gentle at his ear. "It's going to be alright now. I'll fix it. I promise."

Alec focused on using the strength he had left to lift his hand to reach the warm, comforting hand on his cheek. Knowing what he wanted, he felt the fingers of the hand he had held so many nights tangle with his and squeeze reassuringly, because somehow it was reassuring even though he knew it was the end and the world began to dim and wink out around him. He felt lips press comfortably against his and despite the taste of blood in the back of his throat, his mouth was inundated by the sweet flavor of those lips even now. Everything was black now and, as if in an echoing tunnel, he heard the greatest thing he could have ever hoped to hear in this moment; three simple words that made it all bearable somehow,

"I love you."


	2. Unexpected Returns

AN: Sorry I didn't say something before but I thought the Preface worked better without anything getting in its way. Warning, this is where things start to get a little weird, but I promise, I'm not separating any characters and it will all make sense in due time. Please bear with me. Thanks so much for the interest so far. It means a lot. Anyway, I do not, in fact own any of the characters, much to my dismay. They all belong to a lovely woman named Cassandra Clare. And, here we go!

Alec sat up with a start, gasping for air, his hand at his throat. He glanced around for a moment and met a pair of anxious green eyes.

"Alec?" Magnus asked, his voice laced with concern.

"I'm fine. Just a dream." Alec told him, trying to smile reassuringly.

"Sounded more like a nightmare to me." Magnus stated, looking skeptical and Alec supposed it would seem that way and by all rights he should think it was a nightmare too, but something about the look in those eyes and the sound of that voice saying 'I love you' almost completely nullified the terror that had been in the dream.

"Sort of, but there was something about it…" Alec started to explain but was cut off when Jace burst into the room.

"Good to know the great respect you hold for personal boundaries and people's privacy." Magnus snapped, irritated at his time with Alec being interrupted so unceremoniously.

"I'm so terribly sorry that petty Shadowhunter goings-on have interrupted your cuddle fest." Jace replied in his usual snarky manner.

"Thanks for that, Jace. I have to say I really appreciate your obnoxious and generally irritating comments. They never fail to make my day." Magnus responded.

"Okay, okay, okay." Alec intervened. "What's going on, Jace?"

"Isabelle got a power surge on one of the city Sensors. She thinks it could be demon activity and with your parents out of town, we need to check it out." Jace explained, instantly all business.

Alec bit his lip and glanced back to look at Magnus. He did _not_ look pleased. "I'll meet you outside in a minute. Could you give us a moment?" Alec directed the statement toward Jace, never taking his eyes off of the green-eyed warlock.

"Sure. Just remember how Isabelle gets when she gets in her moods and then has to wait." Jace mentioned as he wandered from the room.

Alec turned to Magnus. "I have to go." He stated simply.

"I know. I'm not mad. I just feel like we need to talk about what's going on with you lately." Magnus said, looking intently into his eyes.

"I know we do. I promise, as soon as I can get done with this, we'll talk. Honestly, I wanted to talk to you about something that's been on my mind for a while." Alec told him, trying to reassure him.

Magnus smiled and reached out to take Alec's hand in his and squeezed gently. "Now go be all Shadowhunter-y and amazing. See you when you get home."

Alec bit back the smile that came to his lips when he thought about Magnus' place as home. It was right somehow. The smile crept onto his face as he made his way to the hallway where Jace was waiting.

When they finally reached the Institute, Alec was beginning to get annoyed by having been dragged away from his boyfriend. "This had better have been good, Izzy."

"This is the biggest surge that the Sensors have picked up in a while. I definitely think it's worth checking into. Besides, it's maybe five minutes from here so we will be done before you and Magnus have time to miss each other if we're lucky." She told him, her face surprisingly arranged in an almost sympathetic expression.

Alec thought he might die of shock but ignored it in favour of slipping on his gear and grabbing an assortment of weapons before indicating that they should head out.

As the made their way toward their destination, curiosity got the better of him, along with a mild hint of annoyance thrown in for good measure, "So exactly whatkind of demon attacks at nine o'clock in the morning, Isabelle?"

"I don't know. That's why I was so curious and thought we should check it out. Besides, we don't know for sure it's a demon. It was just a power surge reading and that could mean any number of things. I am just intensly curious as to what has that kind of power and also it seemed important to make sure that whatever it was would use it's or their powers for good. Is that a satisfactory answer to your question, Alexander?" Isabelle snapped.

"Yes it is as a matter of fact. Remind me to just not ask questions anymore. They always result in my head becoming detached from the rest of my body as I often find my dear and beloved little sister has bitten it off." Alec shot back.

Jace and Isabelle stopped walking and and looked at him, their eyebrows raised. Alec looked back at them, confused and slightly self-conscious. It was Jace who broke the silence.

"Was that a snarky comment from one Alexander Lightwood?" He asked, a slight hint of amused shock in his voice.

"What? It happens." Alec shot at them, embarrassed.

"Whatever you say, brother dear." Isabelle said, rolling her eyes and beginning to walk again.

When they finally reached the location on the Sensor, there was no demon activity present.

"But what could have spiked the readings that way?" Isabelle wondered when there was nothing obvious to see in the abandoned building. Alec thought there was something strangely and uncomfortably familiar in a way he couldn't quite place.

"Maybe if it's something we can't figure out, Magnus could help. He's quite gifted with telling us information we might have otherwise never known." Alec suggested.

"You just want to include your boyfriend so he won't be mad at you." Jace commented, his tone rather snide.

"And you don't do the same when Clary wants to come even though she hasn't completed her training?" Alec retorted.

Jace's eyes widened slightly. "You are just out for blood today."

"Maybe I'm just done being such a push-over." Alec commented.

"Let's not get crazy now. You are my brother Alec and if you weren't a push-over, well you just wouldn't be you." Isabelle interjected.

Alec just rolled his eyes. "Do you or do you not want to know what's going on?"

"Fine. Send him a fire message and tell him that we need his expertise." Izzy told him.

"I can't say 'expertise'." Alec told her. "He is full of himself as it is. If I compliment him on his knowledge, I'll never hear the end of it."

Isabelle smirked. "You know you love his self-confidence."

Alec shot her a look then took out a small bit of paper and scribbled a message to Magnus before sending it up in a spark of flame. Before they had time to wonder if he would respond quickly, a burst of glittery colour appeared in the room near Alec.

"I am told my assistance is required." Magnus said, turning to smirk at his boyfriend.

Alec bit his lip and grinned at him. "We got a high energy reading but not a demon in sight, not to mention that it's the middle for the day."

"Well that's because there hasn't been any demon. Someone opened a portal here." Magnus stated as if it should be the most obvious thing in the world.

"Okay, But who would have opened a portal and what do they want?" Isabelle mused aloud.

"No idea, little Shadowhunter. Although there is something familiar about that energy signiature." Magnus said, a thoughtful note in his tone. "There are a few spells I could try that might give us an idea as to the identity of the warlock that did this but we'll have to go back to the loft because I do not, in fact, know those off the top of my head."

"Okay, let's get going." Jace said, moving toward the door. "Just one thing. How do you know for sure that it was a warlock?"

"That's like me asking you how you know a stele is a stele whether it belongs to you or not. I recognize familiar spells and warlock energy signiatures." Magnus said with a note of superiority.

Alec rolled his eyes and sighed. Just what he needed; his brother and his boyfriend playing the 'whose is bigger' game. Just great.

When the finally reached Magnus' loft, Jace and Izzy plopped down on the sofa while Magnus went to his bookshelf to find the correct tome that would contain the spells he needed.

"So, do you have anything to drink perchance?" Jace asked to no one in particular.

"What do you want?" Alec asked, making his way toward the kitchen area.

"I don't know. Do you have any blueberry tea?" Jace asked.

"Yeah, I'll put the kettle on. Iz, you want any?" Alec asked his sister.

"Yes, please!" She said with an enthusiastic smile.

Alec smiled and returned to his task until the sound of the door bursting open behind him caused him to jump, spilling water all across the floor. When he turned, his eyes were greeted by the last sight he could have ever imagined.

There in the doorway stood a tall girl who could be no more than eighteen or nineteen with silvery white hair, pale, delicate skin and purple cat eyes. Alec's heart clenched in his chest as he stared at her, unable to move or speak. He never thought he would see her again. She hadn't changed at all in all this time, except for one key feature. He had never seen her look so desperate or afraid, but most of all he had never seen her look so terribly, terribly sad.

Magnus tensed and his eyes widened to the size of saucers. He looked as shocked as if a moose had suddenly appeared in his appartment, stood on two hooves, called him a whore, and slapped him across the face. Before he had a chance to speak, she opened her mouth.

"Mags, we have a big problem."

"I should think so. I haven't heard from you in nearly a quarter of a century! Where have you been? Nothing in all that time, no note, no nothing!" Magnus shouted, his shock fading quickly into anger.

"Things…came up." She responed lamely. "Look, I really need your help."

"Oh, big surprise, baby sister needs bailing out once again." Magnus retorted irritably.

The girl was about to respond when Alec finally found his voice. "Millie?" he asked. His voice sounded so small and lost; like a child's.

The girl turned toward Alec and looked as if she'd seen a ghost. The little colour that had been in her face drained and her voice came out as a whisper. "Alec?"

"Wait a minute." Magnus said, his eyes darting from one to the other. "How in the world could you possibly know each other?"

At this point, Isabelle and Jace had wandered in to see what all of the commotion was about. Isabelle spoke up. "Millie?" She asked tentatively. "As in _the_ Millie?"

Magnus looked around confused. "Since when do people call you Millie?" He demanded of the pale-haired girl. "And what do you mean, '_the_ Millie'?" he asked rounding on Isabelle.

"When we were kids, Alec used to tell these stories about this beautiful girl with silver hair who would visit him when he was alone. He didn't have friends when he was little, neither of us did really. We had each other and Alec, he had Millie. My parents assumed she was an imaginary friend he had made up and I never really understood or had an opinion and as he got older, he talked about her less and less until we forgot all about her." Isabelle explained quickly.

"Is that who she was?" Jace asked, sounding surprised. "I always assumed she was a friend you guys had that moved away."

Alec remained silent, still staring through the entire conversation. Magnus' lips were pursed so thinly that they were nearly nonexistent.

"Explain. Now." He said, his eyes boring into the mystery girl, his voice low and dangerous.

She bit her lip, never taking her eyes off of Alec. Her eyes were apologetic and sad. Alec finally found his voice, though it was barely louder than he sound of his breath.

"You never came back."

She looked as if he had called her the dirtiest word she had ever heard, her eyes full of hurt and regret.

"I never meant to hurt you."

"You promised." He pressed. "You lied."

She hung her head and pressed her lips together looking utterly defeated. Magnus had reached his breaking point.

"How on this earth do you know my sister?" he demanded, looking at Alec expectantly.

Alec turned to Magnus, his eyes confused and questioning.

"Why didn't you tell me you had a sister?"

"Honestly, I didn't think it would matter that much. I wasn't even sure you two would ever meet. I didn't realize you would be old friends." Magnus told him, irritation nearing unbridled rage in his voice.

"Magnus, would you please calm down?" Millaya asked in a tired voice.

"No, because I don't know what to think right now." Magnus snapped at her. He walked past her and went to stand in front of Alec, taking his hands and leading him to the couch, indicating that they should sit. His voice was gentler when he spoke this time.

"Alec, I need you to tell me a story. It needs to start with, 'Once upon a time, I met Millaya' and needs to end with, 'and that's why I look like I've been clubbed over the head and there is so much awkward tension in the room'."

Alec blinked twice, and then looked into Magnus' eyes as if he were seeing him for the first time since Millaya first appeared. He nodded.

"When I was, I guess five; I woke up to a girl with silvery hair looking around my room. She told me I was dreaming and that I should just forget her, but of course that wasn't going to happen. Like Isabelle said, we didn't have many friends other than each other, or any for that matter. She was really the first person I had spoken to and wasn't directly related to, or Hodge. She kept showing up every now and again after that. She listened to me when I was lonely or feeling badly. She promised she would always be around and I believed her." Alec looked into Millaya's eyes and the end of the statement came out as an accusation. "But she disappeared one day with no explaination. The last time I saw her was right before Jace moved into the Institute. Hodge called the Silent Brothers in after that because he was conviced I had to be going mildly soft in the head. Everyone was conviced that I had dreamed this girl up because I was the only one who ever saw her but I knew she had to be more than just some imaginary friend. I don't think anyone has trusted me to be entirely sane since." He finished bitterly.

"What have you done now?" Magnus asked, furious.

"That's what I came here to talk to you about." Millaya told him, sounding exasperated.

"Oh, good. You're here not because you missed me, but instead to convince my boyfriend he's losing his mind."

"Wait, your _boyfriend_?" she asked, sounding completely lost, then a look of horrible realization came over her face. "No. No way. It's just not even…No. You know what, of course. Of course this is what happens."

"What on Earth are you…?" Magnus started to ask but broke off mid-sentence and his eyes narrowed. "You've been jumping around again, haven't you?"

"What are you talking about?" Alec spoke up, beginning to regain his senses.

"So what if I have? You've never minded before." Millaya spat at Magnus, completely missing the fact that Alec had spoken at all.

"I seem to recall having told you years ago that no good would come of us getting separated but you never listen." Magnus shot back at her.

"Stop it, both of you!" Alec shouted suddenly, fed up with being left in the dark. Every person in the room turned to lookat Alec with wide eyes. Millaya was the first to regain her wits.

"I'm so sorry." She said, sounding miserable; her features arranged in a frown of apology. "You are the exact center of all of this and we haven't even begun to tell you the first thing about what is going on."

"To be fair, I'm mostly in the dark myself." Magnus piped up irritably.

"Well then, once we covert the basics, I'll explain the rest to both of you. Sound fair?" Millaya asked. Alec nodded.

"Fine." Magnus responded, sounding none too pleased.

Millaya rounded on him then, the first trace of anger flickering across her face.

"Keep in mind, brother of mine, that you have some explaining of your own to do." She told him quietly. He seemed to deflate a little at that.

"Well, we'll see you all later then." Jace said, trying to usher Isabelle from the room.

"But I wanna stay!" Isabelle complained loudly, sounding like the most petulant child imaginable.

"Well that's just too bad." Jace told her. She frowned and looked like she would protest but Jace spoke up in his most persuasive tone. "We can go shopping for steele toed boots if you want to, but only if you agree to leave now." He bargained.

"You cheat." Isabelle complained but allowed herself to be guided out of the door which Clary pulled closed behind them.

Now they were alone in the room and Alec turned to face the two warlocks.

"So, sister, huh?" he asked, focusing on Magnus.

"Twin sister, actually." Magnus replied, his voice carefully light.

"I didn't know warlocks had real siblings, let alone twins." Alec commented.

"Yeah, well we are a bit of an anomaly and we pay for it, but it has its perks." Magnus told him.

"Perks?" Alec asked. "Like what?"

"Well, there's the obvious; no matter who comes into our lives, we always have at least one person we've known forever." Magnus stated. Millaya sat back quietly, letting them talk without interrupting.

"What perks aren't so obvious?" Alec questioned.

"Our powers are linked due to our familial bond." Magnus explained. "For example, she does not share my healing powers and I do not share her ability to move through dimensions at will, but toghether we can intensify each other's abilities and, if we are very clever and very very careful, we can change time or travel through it."

Alec just sat in awe as he tried to absorb all of the new information. He was struggling a bit to keep his wits about him.

"Are you alright?" Millaya asked him, speaking for the first time since Jace and Isabelle had left.

Alec blinked and looked at her, studying her face, then, ignoring her question; instead asked one of his own.

"Where did you go?"

She bit her lip and sighed, never breaking eye contact with the Shadowhunter boy.

"I'm not sure I can ever tell you how sorry I am about that." She reached a hand out to him and placed it on his cheek, a peculiar look in herr violet cat eyes, so similar to Magnus' yet so different.

"I guess it's my turn to talk." She said softly. "Where should I start?"


	3. Shock and Awe

Alec pulled away from her. The quiet of the room held a tension that was nearly painful.

"Why don't you start with what inspired you to ruin my life?" Alec demanded, his lost confusion transforming into a nearly blinding fury. Magnus placed a hand on Alec's shoulder. Shewas still his sister, no matter what she had done.

"How about you tell us how you managed to jump time periods without me." He suggested, his tone milder than it had been.

Millaya had yet to take her eyes off of the Shadowhunter boy sitting next to her brother.

"No, Mags. He's right to be angry." She said. "I should never have promised you things that I had no way of knowing if I could deliver on, but please know that none of it was done on purpose." She said.

"It was a decision you made! You did it. No one made you leave!" Alec shouted. He had reached his breaking point. She had made him trust her, love her as dearly as he loved Isabelle, and then vanished with no explaination and no goodbye. "You promised you would come back but you lied. You promised you wouldn't leave me alone. You never meant any of it, did you?"

"I couldn't find you!" she shouted back desperately. She couldn't hold it together any longer as the tears streamed down her face.

Alec's anger evaporated into shock. He felt guilty for having upset her and was on the verge of apologizing for being so harsh when she spoke again.

"I was never meant to find you in the first place. I was jumping dimensions like crazy looking for…" She said quickly, then paused before continuing. "But instead I found I had jumped time streams in on eof the dimensions. I didn't know how I'd managed it but I kept jumping into different parts of your childhood and then suddenly you were gone and I couldn't find you again, no matter how hard I looked for you. Finally, I gave up and started lookiing for Magnus instead and only just found my way to him."

"Wait a minute." Magnus spoke up. "You're saying there is a split in the timeline of this dimension?" He asked, looking horrified.

"Not just this one, but thousands of different dimensions. I don't know what's causing them." She told him.

"And you came to see if we could find a way to fix it together?" he inquired.

"In part, yes."

"Then what's the other part?" Magnus wondered what else could possibly be wrong.

"I found him, Mags. I found him, but I lost him." Millaya stated and Alec wondered if it made any more sense to Magnus than it did to him. Obviously it did by the way the blood dreained from his face and he looked ill.

"What? Who? I don't understand." Alec spoke up.

Magnus spoke up but his voice sounded weak, as though someone had knocked the air out of him.

"There's something I haven't told you about warlocks yet." He started. "When a warlock falls in love, and I mean really falls in love, it can happen only once. That is why it is unusual for us to enter into relationships with mortals. When a warlock's mate dies, many go mad, so dating mortals is a bit of a stupid risk really. We partner for life, which for us is forever whether the one we love lasts that long or not."

Alec tried to swallow past the huge lump in his throat but he felt like he could barely breathe. "So when you said there wouldn't be anyone else…" he started but broke off.

"I meant that I have never found the person I truly _love_ tillnow and once you're gone, I will never be capable of falling again." Magnus said, the severity of his statement crashing over Alec like a tidal wave. He grabbed Magnus' hand and squeezed it, willing the intense sorrow in his eyes to disappear and wishing with all his being he weren't the cause of it.

"So, that's what you've been up to for the past twenty-five years?" Magnus asked, confused.

"No. I found him about a year ago. I was wandering aroudn and he kinda found me but then, about two weeks ago I noticed something strange in the dimension fields and noticed the timeline splits and there was a new energy signature out there that I had never felt before. I didn't know what it was, still don't for that matter, and I want to check it out, but that left my dimension vulnerable and a siren got in and…"She broke off, unable to finish. Her voice sounded choked and tears were in her eyes.

"But Ragnor cursed them ages ago, didn't he? He sent them all back to their hell dimension and sealed it." Magnus protested.

"Whatever this disruptive energy is, it's strong. It must have managed to free them." Millaya told him, clearing her throat and blinking several times.

"I'm still rather lost. Why am I even part of this story?" Alec piped up.

"When Laya opened the Portal to the other dimension to investigate, it spat her out in your room." Magnus stated.

"Why my room?" He questioned.

"Because the dimenstion portals just travel dimensions, not to a different place once you're there. It brings you to the next dimension's equivalent of the room you were leaving in the previous dimension." Magnus explained. "You have to create a new Portal in the dimension to travel to different places."

"Okay, but why was she in my room in another dimension?" Alec asked, completely lost.

"Isn't it obvious? I mean we are twins so I guess it isn't all that surprising if I think about it actually." Magnus was rambling as Alec's mind tried to make the connnection it was beginning to feel lurking just below his carefully cultivated confusion. He didn't think he could take the truth but Magnus spoke before Alec had a chance to stop him.

"In her dimension, you are her mate."

The world spun and there was a ringing in Alec's ears. He felt nauseous and everything seemed to be going in slow motion. Distantly he heard Millaya fussing at Magnus.

"You idiot! You can't just blurt that out to someone! Look at him! You may have really upset him!"

"He'll be fine. He's a big boy. He can handle this." Magnus told her but he didn't sound as sure as Alec would have liked. He coud feel his boyfriend's hands on either side of his face.

"Alec, are you alright?" he asked gently.

When he didn't respond, Millaya called his name nervously. Finally, Magnus grabbed the Shadowhunter by his shoulders and shook him violently. Alec felt his teeth rattle in his head. It was as though he were waking up from a dream.

"Welcome back." Magnus said quietly.

"I hope we have learned our lesson about springing surprising information on unsuspecting victims." Millaya said, her tone annoyed. "How ya' doin'?" she asked Alec gently.

"I'm fine."Alec said. He couldn't decide whether he was angry or afraid or just completely confused. He settled for confused.

"I just don't understand how all this works." He said, shaking his head. "I mean, Does that mean that I…but Magnus and I…I don't…How are we…Magnus?" He asked, confused and afraid, looking to Magnus for answers. To his intense surprise, Magnus was smirking sympathetically but it was Millaya who spoke.

"It's okay, Blue eyes." She said gently.

Magnus tensed a little but Alec was shouting before he could think better of it.

"Do _not_ call me that! Only Magnus calls me that now! You lost that right eight years ago!"

Millaya shrank away from him as if he'd slapped her. "I'm sorry." She said in a small voice.

Alec grimaced, feeling instantly guilty. "No, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to shout at you. I'm just kinda freaking out right now."

"I know. I didn't think. I shouldn't have called you that. It's just, I'm not…I don't know. I'm sorry."

Tears were welling in her eyes again for what she felt like was the millionth time. She could scream. She wasn't weepy. She wasn't weak but she was lost and hurt and more lonely than she had ever been in her life. She knew the boy before her wasn't the man she was in love with, but as she stared into those blue eyes, she found it didn't matter much. Magnus moved closer to her and put his arm around her shoulder.

"Laya?" He asked softly. He could count on one hand the number of times she had cried in her life and it killed him to see his sister so completely broken down. "It's okay, sissy. Don't cry. We'll find a way to fix this, I promise."

Alec wanted to reach over and hug her. He really had missed her. He wanted to reassure her, to make her feel better somehow but he was reeling and couldn't seem to stop his mind from spinning long enough to think clearly.

Millaya took a deep breath and wiped the tears from her face angrily. "Okay. I'm done with that. It isn't getting anything accomplished." She said. With a note of determination in her voice, she stood up and walked to the kitchen. Magnus made to stand up and follow her but Alec put his hand up and stood up himself.

"Can I?" he asked tentatively.

Magnus hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

Alec walked into the kitchen to see Millaya putting water in the kettle, her hand shaking so badly that water sloshed all over the counter. Alec walked up behind her, placing his hand over her small tremoring one. She gasped a little in surprise.

"Sorry I startled you. How are you?" he asked quietly. She turned to face him and Alec was suddenly aware of how close they were standing to each other. He swallowed hard. She smiled a bit as she looked up at him.

"I'm fine." She told him. "What about you? I think you had a pretty rough time too. It's not like you didn't get a ton of crap rained all over you today."

"I'll be fine. I just need a little time to process and figure all this out." Alec told her.

"Can I help?" She asked him.

"I still have a couple of questions."

"Okay. Shoot." She said and led him to the circular kitchen table and pulled out a chair so that they sat facing each other.

"Well, I guess the first thing is, well, I mean, if we're like…together, how is that possible? I mean, Magnus and I are…It's just I really…" He rambled but Millaya cut him off.

"That's nothing to worry about. I know it's weird, being told we're together, but you have to know, it's a different version of you. _You_ love Magnus. My Alec might be similar in many ways but _you_ and Magnus are the reality of your world. My world does not change yours." She explained.

"But I've always loved you, ever since that night you showed up in my room when I was little." Alec tried to explain his confusing feelings toward his strange, beautiful best friend, because she still was, even now.

"Yes, and you have always loved your parents and Isabelle. It is no different. I love you the way I love Magnus. Does that make sense?" she asked.

"I think so." Alec said. It did make sense in a way, but something at the back of his brain told him that there was something else going on.

"I did miss you." She said, looking into his eyes. He grinned his warm little smile at her that she remembered in a much younger face. He was still the same in that way. He was still shy; still quiet and reserved; still Alec.

"I missed you too, Millie." He almost whispered.

She leaned forward and buried her face in his shoulder, wrapping her arms around him. He tensed for a moment, then relaxed and pulled her to him. He thought of the time Izzy broke up with her first boyfriend. Their parents had been out of town and she had run into his room and flung herself on him, sobbing. He had held her until she cried herself to sleep. He hated when the people he loved were hurting and it was obvious that Millie was hurting badly.

Magnus wandered into the room then. "Are you two good now?" he asked, a bit of a smug smile in his voice. He gained a small bit of satisfaction at the sight of his boyfriend and his sister getting along. The shock of her arrival was wearing off and he was beginning to realize just how much he had missed her.

"Yeah, we're good." Alec told him. "Have you got any ideas as to what is causing all of this trouble?"

"No, but I know someone who might. I sent a message to a friend in Estonia but it will probably take a few days for him to respond. In the mean time, sissy, we have some catching up to do." Magnus said, eyeing his sister.

Millaya smiled at the familiar look on her brother's face. A line appeared between Alec's eyebrows.

"I don't like that look." He said, eyeing the green-eyed warlock.

Millaya's smile widened. "You are very smart not to, but it really won't matter, I'm afraid. He has a plan now. I can see it all over his face."

"Oh boy." Alec sighed. Magnus just continued to grin at them. "This isn't going to end well, is it?" The Shadowhunter asked, looking between the siblings.

"Not a chance." Millaya told him, a bit of the spark he remembered back in her voice.


	4. Same Old Song and Dance

AN: Sorry for not posting in so long guys if anyone is still following my sorry self. Uni is kicking my rear, but I am back and ready to write. A word about this chapter, I know that their meeting and Alec asking her out is similar to what happened with Magnus but that's the point, that he is still himself, no matter what dimension with some distinct differences *cough* he's straight for example*cough*. Anyway, enjoy! PLEASE REVIEW!

The flashing coloured lights inside Magnus' apartment were becoming familiar to Alec. He hadn't yet, however, experienced the set-up behind the common sight until now. Leave it to Magnus to see a desperate situation as a time to party. He had said as much, but Magnus had smirked, reaching out and mussing his already tousled hair.

"That, Blue Eyes, is precisely why we should do this. A party is a distraction from the suckiness of one's life. The better the party, the farther away problem's seem. Besides, it's not as if we can do anything now, but wait. We will handle it all in good time."

Alec rolled his eyes and bit his lip, looking toward the spare bedroom where Millaya had disappeared half an hour ago to get ready after Magnus had announced that "catching up" included _partying_ it up. He was contemplating walking to the room and asking how she was, but at that moment, a knock came from the door. Magnus had his hands full magic-ing the apartment into its party uniform so he headed for the door. Isabelle stood on the other side of the door when he opened it, wearing a tight, sparkly blue dress that inspired him to want to throw a jacket over her and brand new steel toed boots. Jace was behind her, his arm around Clary. She wore and earthy green dress that was flowing and much more like what he wished his own sister would consider when dressing herself. Simon stood awkwardly in the back, his jeans no longer ripped, but wearing a red t-shirt that said, "Publick Libary: Helpin' Peeple Reed Good."

Isabelle stepped forward and pushed him back into the loft. "Tell me what happened now, Alexander?" she demanded.

Alec tensed a little at the aggressive tone of her voice.

"Have you been waiting all day just to maul me, Izzy?"

"Don't get smart with me, Mister! I want to know why I had to leave and I want to know what is going on and why you were upset and…"She ranted but Alec cut her off.

"I might consider telling you things if you would breathe long enough to let me get a word in edgewise. Did you ever consider that, Isabelle?"

She glared at him and huffed. "I don't appreciate your tone but I will provide you with an opportunity to defend your rudeness by giving me a detailed account of what I missed when Jace decided to be a sneaky little trick."

Alec conceded and began to recount the events of the afternoon but purposefully leaving out the one thing Isabelle had wanted most; details. He told them everything important and relevant but the personal stuff was, well, personal. He didn't feel comfortable discussing the innermost aspects of his life under the best of conditions and these were certainly not the best of conditions.

Around the time Alec finished his narrative, Magnus finished with the apartment, heading over to greet the group.

"Izzy, you fabulous girl, I _love_ that dress! Clary, you look lovely too dear." He nodded to Simon with a smile before the corners of his mouth turned down into a grimace as his eyes landed on Jace. "Oh, I do so wish you could leave the blonde bubble-headed baboon at home."

Alec shook his head, biting back a smile. Everyone he knew was insane. At that moment a movement to his left alerted that someone else had entered the room. Millaya stood smiling next to him. She looked beautiful. Her long white hair was pulled up with tendrils falling in all the right places to frame her face. The strapless, fitted grey-blue dress she was wearing had bits of gold that shimmered in the multi-coloured lights Magnus had set up. Her nails and make-up were perfect but the thing that really caught Alec's eye was the delicate chain around her neck with a small, golden locket at the end. It was simple upon first inspection but as he looked closer, he noticed that the circular pendant had a cobalt blue stone set into the center of it that was cut into the rough shape of a heart and the looped ring at the top which connected it to the chain was designed to look like flames. He wished he knew what was inside. He wanted to badly to ask about the necklace but he knew Magnus was trying to distract her from the exact thing he suspected questions about that locket would lead to.

"Hi, guys." She said, greeting the group.

"And who exactly are you again?" Jace asked, looking her up and down, as though sizing her up.

She pressed her lips together, looking as though she were trying not to smile.

"Nice to see you too, Jace Lightwood, though you do make a fair point. I know all of you but we haven't actually been introduced. I'm Laya."

"You know, it's impolite to wave your superior knowledge in other people's faces." Jace retorted.

"Good to know you're incorrigible in any dimension." Her smile turned into a sly grin.

"Congratulations on your ownership of a dictionary." He shot back, but Alec could see the look of approval in his eyes.

"So happy that I could please Your Majesty." She responded, raising an eyebrow. "I sincerely hope I haven't surpassed the constraints of your intellect with my phenomenal vocabulary."

"That, my dear, is an unachievable goal. I do hope you aren't too sorely disappointed." Jace told her.

"The only disappointing thing is the unimpressive comebacks from someone who, up until recently, I considered the utmost authority on all things obnoxious and otherwise intolerably frustrating. Clearly I was mistaken." She said.

Isabelle took this moment to speak up. "Jace, stop being so rude because she wins and I like her and I want her to be a friend so just shut up."

"Well then, I feel the love, Izzy. Truly I do." Jace said.

"So Alec tells us you're having some trouble getting home?" Clary asked, trying to make conversation and put an end to the petty squabbling that was occurring around her.

"A bit." Millaya responded, not lending the topic to much conversation.

Clary tried again. "So you'll be around a while then?"

"Yeah. I mean, I guess. I don't know really. Don't take this the wrong way or anything, but I kinda hope not. It's not that I dislike any of you, it's just that I don't know what's causing all of this trouble and it's all a bit off-putting, to be honest." She told her honestly.

Clary looked sympathetic. "Believe it or not, I can identify."

Millaya smiled at the girl with a certain measure of affection; more really than one was required to feel toward a new acquaintance. They must be pretty close in her dimension. The doorbell rang this time and Magnus went to the door, propping it open instead of closing it back. The first official party-goers had arrived and things were about to get hectic.

Tons of vampires and warlocks who had known Millaya for years came to greet her as the night wore on and came to say how it had been too long. She smiled at them and made polite conversation, but her mind was on another place entirely. She gazed at the blue-eyed boy with the familiar face across the room and smiled at the nervous expression that was so familiar on his face.

_He bit his lip, looking at his feet when she came to the door. _

"_So what brings you to my humble abode at this unusual hour?" she inquired. _

"_I wanted to say thank you on behalf of the Clave. You didn't have to help out with that situation with the Greater Demon and the fact that you were there saved our lives, to be honest." He told her, never lifting his eyes from the floor but she could see the rush of colour to his pale cheeks. She smiled a little at the nervousness in his voice._

"_You came to my apartment at two-thirty in the morning to thank me on behalf of the Clave?" she repeated skeptically. "Is that it?"_

_ "Not entirely." He admitted hesitantly._

"_Well come in." She told him, still smiling and stepping aside so that he could enter. He followed her into the living room with its single leather chair and small matching loveseat. She indicated with a motion of her hand that he should sit. He perched at the edge of one end of the loveseat with his lips pressed together, keeping silent. He had yet to look at her and she was getting a little frustrated. "Eye contact is a good thing unless you find my physical appearance that undesireable." She commented._

_ He looked up then. "No. Not at all. Kinda the opposite really." He blurted, then blushed again. Funny, he didn't seem the type to show his emotions so openly, granted this little tell was involuntary and rather endearing. He had fallen silent again, only now he was staring at her. Was she going to have to drag whatever it was out of him? "So…" she prompted, trying to be gentle._

_ "Oh, right. Sorry. It's just, I've never asked anyone out before and I don't even know if Isabelle was right when she said that you seemed interested and I kinda feel stupid even being here and I don't know how to say this and you're just sitting there staring at me and nobody ever looks at me like that, their attention is always on Jace only he isn't here and he would know how to be smooth and impressive and he's not here and it's been so long since I've done anything without him, but this isn't exactly something you bring a witness for and you probably wish he was here instead of me and I'm just really nervous." He finished, feeling completely idiotic, his face vaguely resembling the colour of an overripe beet._

"_So you don't ramble on when you're nervous or anything, do you?" she teased with a wink._

_ He opened his mouth to respond but was unable to speak so instead opted to return to worrying his lip and dropped his gaze for the first time since he had finally looked up at her with those cerulean eyes of his. She most certainly was not having that. She placed one hand gently on his cheek, urging him to look up at her. He flicked his eyes up to gaze at her from behind the dark fringe of his untidy hair.  
>"I'm going to tell you something and it is important that you listen very carefully. First, of course I'm interested. You are completely adorable, sometimes despite your best efforts to kill it with your nervous talking thing. Second, I think somewhere in all of that word vomit was an invitation to go out with you. Am I correct?" She asked him. He nodded once anxiously and she smiled. "Well then, the answer to your question is yes. I'll see you Friday around seven thirty. And no offense, but if you were anything like that friend of yours, I would have turned you down. Your lack of pretense is refreshing."<em>

_ He smiled at her tenetivly and stared into her purple cat eyes, her silvery white hair accentuating her unusual beauty."I can't believe Izzy was right." He said more to himself than to her._

_ "You're lack of self-confidence is startling." She told him matter-of-factly._

_ "Well, I should probably head back home. It's kinda late." He said, blushing again as he recalled the hour._

_ It was her turn to smile. "See ya, Blue Eyes." She told him, walking him to the door. He was standing in the hallway now, but still faced her. He looked down into her eyes and turned his head to the side slightly at the nickname. He was so completely honest with his every expression that she couldn't stand it any longer. She reached up and pressed her lips to his for the most fleeting of moments, then shut the door in his beautiful face with a smile._

Watching her forced smiles and sad eyes, Alec thought she might burst out in a shriek of anguish. He chose that moment to walk over to her with a drink and an idea.

"What is this?" she asked, laughing a bit as he offered her the fuchsia drink.

"I have no idea. I'm not a big alcohol person, but you looked like you were drowning, or would like to drown something."

"Your assessment was correct, sir." She told him, the smile she sent him was the first genuine he had seen on her face since Magnus had dreamed up this particular adventure. She took the drink and downed it quickly.

"So I will admit, this was a two part plan." Alec told her.

"Is that so?" she asked.

"It is, in fact."

"So what is the second part of your, so far, brilliant plan?" she pressed.

"Well…um…now it doesn't seem like such a great idea." Alec hedged.

Millaya smiled at his self-conscious expression. He never was able to find the part of him that was so obviously apparent to her and, she suspected, to Magnus too.

"Oh, no. What were you going to say?"

"Er…Dance?" he mumbled. It came out as more of a question than anything else.

"Then what are we waiting for?" she asked.

Alec bit his lip. "I don't think…" He started to say but Millaya stopped him.

"You don't get off that easily. Come on." She said, taking his hand and leading him to an area where people were moving with the music. Suddenly she was caught in a memory she would have preferred not to dwell on, given the circumstance she was currently in.

_A knock came at her door at seven twenty-five Friday evening. She smirked at the sound. Of course he would be early. Shadowhunters. She checked her makeup in the mirror before heading for the door. He looked slightly startled by her appearance. She was confused at first until she remembered she had changed her hair colour to a nice, average brown colour and put in the dark contacts. She waited for him to ask the question but he never did and then she realized that he must already know. "Hey. Ready to go?" he asked her with a smile. _

"_Yep, let's go." She smiled back, grabbing her jacket and stepped out of her apartment, locking the door with a snap of her fingers. "So, little Lightwood, where are we going?"_

"_Well, I thought about dinner, but that's so generic and I don't really go anywhere other than the library and the book store but the library is closed and…"_

"_You're doing it again." She interrupted him, smiling up at the tall, babbling Shadowhunter boy. _

"_What?" he asked, bewildered._

"_The talking thing." She told him and watched as his cheeks flushed._

"_Sorry." He mumbled._

"_No apologies for being adorable." She told him simply. "So, let me get this straight. You came here without any plan?"_

"_I suppose I did a bit. I didn't mean to but it sort of worked out that way." He admitted as they exited the building onto the street. _

"_Alright, come along then." She said, taking his hand and leading him off down the street. _

"_Where are we going?" Alec asked, allowing her to drag him along._

"_If I tell you, it won't be a surprise." She retorted. _

"_What if I were to tell you that I don't like surprises?" he pushed._

"_Do you not like surprises?" she asked him, slightly taken aback._

"_No, they're fine. I was just providing a hypothetical scenario." He told her, smiling a bit._

_She stopped for a moment and grinned at him over her shoulder, her cat eyes gleaming with mischief. "It makes jokes. Somebody's feeling rather confident this evening."_

"_I'm not a complete babbling idiot all the time." He said, half joking, half indignant._

'_I never thought you were. It's just, as much as I think your whole 'so shy you're disabled' thing is adorable, I like seeing the real you."_

"_What do you mean?" he asked, a little confused._

"_I mean, Alec Lightwood; fearless Shadowhunter, courageous warrior, protective older brother and parabatai." She told him._

_Alec flushed, then reached out and reclaimed her hand, walking up with her. She edged closer to him until she bumped into his arm gently. He smiled and looked down at her now brown hair._

"_Come on, we're here." She announced, dragging him off of the pathway and down toward a chain link fence with a 'No Trespassing' sign._

"_Are you sure we should be coming down here?" Alec asked hesitantly._

"_Oh, come on, break a rule. It won't kill you." She teased him, smiling._

_Alec pursed his lips, frowning, and untangling his hand from hers. He walked in front of her and hoisted himself over the fence to the other side, looking at her challengingly. "Well come on then." _

_She smiled at him and snapped her fingers, appearing behind him and causing Alec to jump slightly with surprise when she put her hand on his shoulder. "Rather chilly down here tonight." She commented, shivering a little as a breeze swept through. Alec stepped closer to her and wrapped an arm around her, surprising himself by his sudden burst of courage. She leaned into the warmth of him and nuzzled closer. _

"_So what is it about this place that you love so much?" Alec asked, wondering. _

_Millaya laughed lightly. _

"_My brother thought it was hilarious when they were building this bridge because everyone kept going on and on about how it would be 'the greatest erection in history'. We used to come down here because I love the water and even though Mags hates it, he would come and keep me company." She told him, a far-off look crossing her face. "I learned how to dance down here, years ago." _

"_Is that something you like to do?"_

"_What, dance? Yeah. It's the only time that the world seems to make sense to me." She told him._

"_That's how I feel when I'm training." Alec confided. _

_She just smiled as he spoke, staring at him. _

"_What?" he asked, feeling self-conscious. _

"_You are just so not what I ever expected from a Shadowhunter, at all and at the same time you are exactly what I expected only I'm glad that you are exactly who you are."_

_Alec turned a deep crimson stared down at his feet as he shuffled them in the sand. Millaya grabbed his hand and pulled him down to sit next to her on the shore and he put his arm around her. They sat in a comfortable silence for a long while, taking in the sound of the waves crashing against the shoreline until a gurgling growl interrupted the moment. Alec flushed again and Millaya giggled, turning to face him. _

"_Sounds like someone's hungry." _

"_I guess so." Alec muttered, still embarrassed. "I didn't even realize I was hungry."_

"_Well when was the last time you ate?" she asked him._

"_Umm…I'm not sure really. I guess it was before training this morning."_

"_Are you serious? No, that's ridiculous. We are going back to my place and you, Blue Eyes, are going to eat something."_

"_You're a warlock. I thought you just summoned whatever you wanted."_

"_Oh, I could if I wanted to but I prefer to do things the mundane way; take the slow path. I just figure when you have forever, why get in a hurry?"_

"_Fair enough, I just hope that you cook better then my sister." _

"_Oh ho, someone has a little bit of a snarky streak." _

"_There's more to me than my shallow Shadowhunter exterior."_

_Millaya smiled at Alec and took his hand to pull him up after her. "Come on then, Mister Multilayered Shadowhunter, let's get you some sustenance before you keel over on me." _

_They walked back up the embankment to the street and took the short walk back to Millaya's apartment._

"_So do you have a favourite food?" she asked Alec as she opened her refrigerator._

"_Is that something I should have?" Alec asked, unsure of how to respond._

"_You don't _have _to have one but I won't lie that it's a little sad that you don't. How do you feel about chicken?"_

"_That sounds delicious actually. Now that we're actually talking about food, I'm rather hungry." He admitted._

"_Imagine that." Millaya laughed, removing ingredients from the small refrigerator before putting a pan on the stove and flicking on the radio next to the stovetop. She smiled as she recognized the song drifting through the speakers. She noticed Alec smirk a bit and roll his eyes. _

"_What?" she asked._

"_Isabelle, my sister, she loves this song. She gets our little brother, Max to dance with her on the bed. I don't think he particularly likes it but he likes it when he's included in things so he goes along." Alec said, smiling fondly. _

"_You're really close to them, aren't you?" Millaya asked, a touch of melancholy slipping into her voice as she thought of her own brother. She missed Magnus and in that moment could not quite recall what it was that could have kept her from visiting in so long._

"_Our parents are gone a lot so it's just Izzy, Jace, Max, and me most of the time. What about you? Are you close to your brother?"_

"_Yes. Quite close. It's been a while since I've seen him but we always end up together in the end. When you've been alive as long as we have, it pays to have someone you've known forever, and when we were younger, well, let's just say our parents were none too pleased to have children with 'Satan's Mark' on them so we were really all each other had in the world."_

"_Why did you change your hair and eyes tonight?" Alec asked, quiet and pensive._

"_I would have thought it would have been obvious. I can't very well walk around the mundies looking like some sort of circus freak. They get a little suspicious. Besides little Shadowhunter, would your parents, or the Clave for that matter, approve of you carrying on with a warlock so publicly?" She asked. "I thought you would appreciate me looking a bit more…average." _

"_Don't get me wrong, you look beautiful." Alec started, "But I like _you_, the real you. There's something about you that's hidden behind contacts and glamours. I like the way your hair looks like moonlight." He said as he pushed a tendril of hair back from her eyes and tilted her face up toward his so he could look into her eyes. "I like the way your eyes remind me of the sun, just as it sets behind the water and the way I can see your emotions shining through. Did you know that when you smile it makes your eyes glow?"_

_Millaya bit her lip, blinking the contacts away and letting the glamour slip from her hair._

"_There's my girl." Alec murmured, then blushed, realizing the possessive tone of his statement but Millaya smiled, gently reaching up to brush his cheek with her fingertips before she kissed him sweetly on the lips._

"_You continue to defy expectation, especially for a Lightwood." Millaya commented._

"_You know my family?" Alec asked, confused and interested._

"_I've known your family for generations but you are so different. You are a conundrum Alec Lightwood, but even conundrums have to eat." She told him with a smirk. _

_After they had eaten, Alec offered to help her wash up the dishes._

"_Just turn the radio up a bit if you don't mind." She asked as she began to wash a plate._

"_Sure." He flicked the knob up and stepped beside her to begin drying. _

"_I _love _this song!" she exclaimed upon hearing it, dropping the dish she had been about to wash and pulling Alec away from the sink with soapy hands as she started to dance around the kitchen. Alec froze. _

"_I don't dance…at all." He muttered, sounding supremely uncomfortable._

"_Loosen up, Lightwood. This isn't for the Olympic gold or anything, we are just going to have a good time being goofy in my kitchen. Don't deny me my fun!" she said, shaking his arms back and forth as she twisted around. He rolled his eyes but slowly began to loosen up bit by bit until they were breathless and the kitchen was a wet, soapy mess._

_As Millaya looked around she laughed. "I think this time, it might be good to just…" she left the sentence hanging but the mess disappeared before their eyes. _

After the party-goers evacuated the apartment, it became apparent that none of them could go back to the Institute, or home for that matter, in the condition they were in. Magnus summoned cots for them all and they passed out.

Alec woke the next morning to the smell of something baking in the kitchen. He yawned and glanced next to him. Magnus was still sleeping but he was curious as to what was occurring in the other room. He climbed carefully out of bed as to not wake his sleeping boyfriend and padded in his bare feet through the minefield of sleeping Shadowhunters. Well, Shadowhunters and vampire. Millaya was dancing around in boxer shorts and a purple t-shirt he recognized as Magnus' that had the word "Sassy" written in glitter. He smirked. She turned to get something off of the opposite counter and saw him standing in the doorway. "Good morning, Blue Eyes." She said warmly before biting her lip quickly at the memory of the previous day's conversation. "Sorry."

"Don't apologize. It fits that you'd call me that too. I was just feeling kinda defensive yesterday."

"That's understandable. So what are you doing up so early?" she asked.

"Well, considering we are the only two who are remotely sober, I think the rest of them will be sleeping for some time to come." Alec told her. "What are you up to in here?"

"Cooking breakfast." She said simply.

"But you're a warlock. Why don't you just summon up food?" He asked, interested. He had never seen Magnus do anything more than he absolutely had to do.

"I don't like to do a lot of magic when I could just do it the mundane way. It's kind of relaxing in a weird sort of way." She told him.

"Then what is on the menu for this morning?" Alec asked.

"Tell me, Mr. Lightwood; how do you feel about crepes and café au late?"

"Oooh. Sounds fancy." He said, smiling. "Anything I could help with?"

"Actually, could you grab the bottle of Aspirin out of the cabinet?" she asked.

"Sure. Should I also awaken the sleeping dead?" he asked.

"Awe. He's not just a pretty face." She said, sarcasm dripping in her tone and turning back to the batter on the griddle.

Alec stepped into the other room and placed a hand on Isabelle's shoulder.

"Do you want me kill you, brother dear?" she asked groggily.

"Oh, get over yourself, Isabelle. Just because you chose to consume alcoholic beverages does not provide you with a free 'sleep the day away' pass."

Their bickering was obviously loud enough to wake Clary from her slumber because she sat up, rubbing her sleepy green eyes. "What's going on?"

"Now is the time for all good little Shadowhunters to start their day." Alec said brightly.

"Of course, the one time you should sound cranky and you decide to be Chipper Charlie." Clary mumbled irritably.

"I would appreciate it if you would all kindly SHUT YOUR FLAPPING FACES!" Jace shouted from the other side of Clary, causing her to jump.

"No, in fact, we will not because it is time to wake up and stop acting like a mundane bum."

"I have no interest in being conscious, no matter how you try to rile me." Jace grumbled.

"Not even if there is breakfast to be consumed?" Alec asked, knowing he was saying the magic words.

"Food?" Jace perked up a bit.

"Yes." He said, his voice patronizing. "And if you promise to be a good boy, there is coffee and Aspirin just for you."

"Yay for pain killers and caffeine!" Jace said with mock enthusiasm.

"Please try and contain your elation and wake the bloodsucker."Alec said, turning away from them to head back to the kitchen.

"The undead are stirring." He announced to Millaya upon reentry.

"Magnus got up with that little prompting?" she asked skeptically.

"Oh, that is an unsafe place to be. I am not even close to getting in between Magnus and his hangover sleep." Alec told her.

She rolled her eyes and took a deep breath before shouting louder than Alec would have thought possible from such a slight figure. "Magnus Percival Lysander Bane! Get your beanpole little butt out of that bed and come eat your breakfast!"

Alec stared at her in awe.

Magnus appeared in the kitchen a moment later, looking murderous.

"Do you realize just how hung over and deeply ill I am right now?" He asked, his tone dark and dangerous.

"Do you realize that everything you are going through, you brought on yourself?" she asked back, mocking his tone. "Don't expect me to pity you for your own irresponsible actions."

"Not all of us can be professional sticks in the mud." Magnus retorted.

"I'm gunna stick you somewhere much worse than the mud in a minute if you don't watch it." She snapped. "Now shut up and go get a robe on before you blind someone with that insanely pale chest of yours."

"I'll wear what I like in my own loft, thank you very much."

"Oh really? I was sure you wouldn't want to give Jace any ammunition against you but apparently I was wrong."

"I forgot about that." Magnus said with a note of realization and annoyance.

"I figured as much. Now be gone with you until you are clad in appropriate attire for breakfast."

Alec stood, staring and smiling at her.

"What is it?" she asked, shooting him a strange look.

"Nothing, just, I have never seen anyone tell Magnus what to do before. I'm just very impressed and also have a request." he told her.

"Really? What's that?" she asked, smiling.

"Show me your ways." Alec said, half teasing, half serious.

That was the moment that Jace chose to make his entrance followed by Isabelle, Simon, and Clary. "What doesn't Magnus want me to see?"

"Great, the blonde botheration is awake." Magnus said with distain.

"Oh, Mag, don't pout. It isn't becoming of proper young warlocks." Jace interjected, sauntering sleepily up to the counter and hopping up, looking over at Magnus.

Alec sighed. It was bad enough that Millie had felt it necessary to antagonize his hung over boyfriend but now Jace had to go poking the bear; well, more like smack the bear over the head with a stick.

"Where do you get off thinking its okay for you to call me 'Mag'?" Magnus demanded, saying the nickname like a disgusting swear word.

"Ooh, testy this morning, aren't we?" Jace responded, smiling.

Magnus opened his mouth to continue their bickering when Millaya stepped in.

"Listen up, both of you." She said firmly. "If I hear another cross word out of either of your mouths, I will not only deny you your deeply needed dose of Advil and coffee, but I will also prevent you from consuming any type of nourishment for breakfast."

"Of course; only Alec would have an imaginary friend who turns out to be real who is such a killjoy." Jace commented, rolling his eyes.

Millaya pursed her lips and raised an eyebrow, looking slightly dangerous. Jace ducked his head and grabbed a stray strawberry from the bowl where Millaya was making crepe filling.

"So, what is on the agenda for the day, Sissy?" Magnus inquired as Millaya turned back to her cooking duties. She shrugged, raising her eyebrows and twitching her mouth to one side. Alec couldn't help but notice how adorable she looked. He pressed his lips together and felt a line appear between his eyebrows. Confused didn't even begin to cover it.

"I didn't know you had progressed to planning your next move before you got there, Mags."

"Hey, why does she get to use the nickname?" Jace interjected.

Magnus sent a cutting glare at the golden Shadowhunter and pointedly ignored the boy's comment, directing his attention back to his sister.

"A lot changes when you're gone for more than twenty years."

"Apparently. Do we _have_ to do anything in particular? I'm kinda partied out after last night." Millaya told him.

"Oh, yeah. You partied _so_ hard." Magnus responded, the sarcasm dripping like honey in his voice.

"I couldn't very well leave Alec alone with the responsibility of being the only sober person caring for a loft full of drunk folk. That wouldn't have been very fair." She hedged.

Alec smirked. Magnus couldn't argue with that. How many times had he complained about that exact fact?

"Whatever. We could just hang out here and watch Glee." Magnus suggested.

"Wow. And I thought you couldn't watch anything more 'gay' than Project Runway." Jace interrupted.

Millaya noticed Alec cringe slightly, whether at the suggestion of watching Glee or at Jace's comment, she didn't know. She decided to avoid the show either way.

"How about we just have a movie marathon?" She suggested.

"But there is no adorable Chris Colfer or cutie Darren Criss in movies." Magnus objected. Millaya rolled her eyes and smiled.

"Somehow, I think you will survive." She told him.

"What are we going to do then, watch Titanic for the eight millionth time?" Magnus asked sarcastically.

"That movie is a classic!" Millaya retorted.

"I've never seen it." Alec input simply.

"Wait a minute. You mean to tell me that you're eighteen years old and you haven't seen Titanic?" Millaya asked in disbelief.

"Isn't it the movie about that mundie ship that sank?" Alec asked, confused.

"Oh, that's it. After breakfast, we are having an epic movie marathon, _starting _with Titanic." Millaya announced.

"I'm _so_ glad that Clary hasn't finished her training yet and that we will have to miss that little treat." Jace said through a mouthful of crepes.

"Yeah, and I have to go watch Simon at band practice with Jordan. Maya needs some moral support since Clary won't be there." Isabelle added, but the difference was that she seemed genuinely upset that she couldn't stay.

"It's fine Izzy. I know you would love to stay and squeal about how cute my having friends is." Alec told her, wrapping an arm around his sister's shoulders.

"You know me so well, darling." She said, standing on her tip-toes to kiss his cheek.

"Hey, watch it now. That's my boyfriend there. I know you're his sister and all, but look how Jace treated Clary when she was _his _sister. For all I know, that stuff is genetic." Magnus joked.

Isabelle rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at him. Alec walked over to the warlock, bumping his shoulder into him before taking his hand and smiling. Jace frowned but, in a moment of uncharacteristic wisdom, kept quiet.


End file.
